WASHINGTON (AP) – Supreme Court decisions that are “so clearly at variance with the national will” should be overridden by the other branches of government, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says.

“What I reject, out of hand, is the idea that by five to four, judges can rewrite the Constitution, but it takes two-thirds of the House, two-thirds of the Senate and three-fourths of the states to equal five judges,” Gingrich said during a Georgetown University Law Center conference on the judiciary.

It takes approval by two-thirds of Congress and three-fourths of the 50 states to adopt an amendment to the Constitution, the government’s bedrock document.

Gingrich, a Republican who represented a district in Georgia,

[can we note that please? A single, god damned, fucking district in GA – despite rising to Speaker once in DC – MCat]

noted that overwhelming majorities in Congress had reaffirmed the Pledge of Allegiance, and most of the public believes in its right to recite it.

[most of the public is functionally sub par – I don’t normally engage in “sheeple” language – and the issue was the late (1954, iirc) and spurious addition of “under god” – MCat]

As such, he said, “It would be a violation of the social compact of this country for the Supreme Court to decide otherwise and would lead, I hope, the two other branches to correct the court. [snip]

Except!… where they are headed is executive overdrive. The inhabitant of the Oval to have the right to over ride the SC. Congress, a self-serving miserable assemblage on a good day, just fell to cockroach level. They won’t be asserting anything.

A short translation from Le Mondeat Nur al-Cubicle… and since we are the perpetrator of the horror in essence, hold on tight I’d say.

Hundred of suspects arrested by Pakistan in the scope of the War on Terror have disappeared according to a report on human rights by Amnesty International. Those arrested, including children, were tortured and literally sold to the USA by bounty hunters.

The organization can prove the direct complicity of CIA and FBI officials in the wave of disappearances that have swept Pakistan.[snip]

I heard Sensenbrenner pushing this am for the legislation to pass so the “interrogators are protected” and the “interrogations can begin again” for “our safety”. hmm Heil and Achtung.

Arcturus took the wonderfulState of Exception by Giorgio Agamben for a simply beautiful post at Constellations:

The Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben, building on Hannah Arendt’s insight that the Enlightenment’s notion of the “Rights of Man” pretends to apply to all peoples but in practice applies only to “citizens” granted those “rights” by the State, argues in his work that the “state of exception” (or emergency) not only tends to become the norm but that democracy tends to converge with totalitarianism.

It is time to stop looking at the Declarations of Rights from 1789 to the present as if they were proclamations of eternal, metajuridical values that bind legislators to respect them, and to consider them instead according to their real function in the modern state. In fact, the Rights of Man represent above all the original figure of the inscription of bare natural life in the legal-political order of the nation-state. . . . Nation-state means a state that makes nativity or birth (that is, of the bare human life) the foundation of its own sovereignty. This is the (not even very obscure) sense of the first three articles of the Declaration of 1789: only because it wrote the native element into the core of any political association (arts. 1 and 2) could it firmly tie (in art. 3) the principle of sovereignty to the nation (in accordance with its etymon, natio originally meant simply “birth”). The fiction implicit here is that birth immediately becomes nation, such that there can be no distinction between the two moments. [snip]

Madman has a lovely post up at LSF… I think I see a symbiosis in the photos for his post and mine, not in the atmosphere but in the psychology of each photo… Restless nation. What is to become of us. I know I know, after all we have done, we nearly have no right to wonder for ourselves…

[W]e’ve never applied it completely, of course. Tom Shipp and Abe Smith, dragged out to the hanging tree, weren’t people who could apply the writ to the mob reducing them to strange fruit hanging from the bent bough. Big Foot’s cries for the charges against him would not have been recognized by any court. The internees at Manzanar weren’t considered worth the paper to bring the matter before the magistrate.

However, to recognize human beings as legal persons, with this most fundamental of rights, is the light with which enlightened Democracies illuminated their way. It has been there for centuries, flickering off above the far horizon, a guide to making a more just and fair society possible. [snip]

[F]or all its manifold faults, for all its history steeped in racism and genocide, for all its wars of empire and Know-Nothing heritage, this country was manifestly founded on the notion that a just government bases its authority in the consent of the governed. Now the Bush administration has declared that the interests of this country are coincident with, and limited to, the short-term interests of the administration and its corporate backers, and the most basic, most essential Constitutional rights of the citizenry be damned, not by the odious exceptionalism of privilege that marred this country’s history, but across the board. All of us are three-fifths of a person now, granted the privilege of full protection only if we do nothing that requires protection, unless we are unlucky enough to be falsely accused. And I withdraw my consent.

I withdraw my consent. I am no one: a cog in the machine Mario Savio described. [snip}

”There’s a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part, you can’t even passively take part, and you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop! And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!”

*********************************************************************

UPDATE, 9:30 am

Oh that Law and Order Finger being shaken in our faces… Gonzales weighs in with a warning to the judiciary:

Washington – Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who is defending President Bush’s anti-terrorism tactics in multiple court battles, said Friday that federal judges should not substitute their personal views for the president’s judgments in wartime.

He said the Constitution makes the president commander in chief and the Supreme Court has long recognized the president’s pre-eminent role in foreign affairs. “The Constitution, by contrast, provides the courts with relatively few tools to superintend military and foreign policy decisions, especially during wartime,” the attorney general told a conference on the judiciary at Georgetown University Law Center.

“Judges must resist the temptation to supplement those tools based on their own personal views about the wisdom of the policies under review,” Gonzales said. [snip]

I say, why suffer thru the Big Box Blahg Owners, operatives and thugs working to ‘splain away this one. Oh yes, and of course, chastise people for their very human, very disgusted reactions.

If you are not at the end of your tether, or long off the threadbare nub of it, then you are not sane.

Re: Final Tally on the McCain Torture Act, 65-34 (none / 0)

You know what, Democrats are too weak to fight the War on Terror effectively. If they can’t stand up to President Bush for American principles, then how the hell can they stand up to Osama bin Laden? Goddamn cowards. . .

by Jim Treglio on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 07:56:31 PM EST

Re: Final Tally on the McCain Torture Act, 65-34 (none / 0)

That’s right. Spread the word. We are all better off with the GOP in power.

You may be mad, but this really, really isn’t helpful in trying to change the country.

by Mimikatz on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 08:37:42 PM EST[ Parent ]

And yes, he did come back at that rude and dismissive slapwa. [btw, stuff it Mimi. Sit and think what you wrote to a VOTER after Congress gave free rein to a dictator during war time…]

Re: Final Tally on the McCain Torture Act, 65-34 (none / 0)

Would it really matter so long as these twelve cowards remain in the Senate. They voted to give Bush dictorial powers because they were afraid of Rove. They gave up the Republic without a fight.

Don’t get me wrong, the GOP are cowards as well. Every single one of these Senators realized what they were doing, and they did it anyway. No one who voted for this monstrosity should ever have a statue or school or anything other than an open sewer named after them.

But it is our Party, the Democrat Party that should be the most angry. When we stand ready to fight for each one of our officeholders, they run in fear. When we pledge and give our time and money, they cower in fear. You’re damn right I’m angry. Worst of all, several of these Senators aren’t even up for election. They just caved because it was their nature.

I will never, ever support any one of these bastards. They won’t get my money or my time or any effort, because when I needed them, when we needed them, they weren’t there. This wasn’t a fucking tax cut, it was everything. From here on out, Bush can jail anyone he wants, torture anyone he wants, and it has full Congressional consent. And no one can bring a habeus motion to challenge the law in court. Now Bush is a fucking Dictator. And they GAVE IT TO HIM!!!!

Since the day after the 2000 election, Bush and his goons have been playing chicken with the very structure of the United States Government, double-daring anyone to try and stop them. If Congress does try – and I’m not talking little things like wrecking Social Security, that’ll happen and a dictator can afford to let things like that wait a while, I’m talking atomic bang bang and thumbscrews – he will force the private Constitutional crisis into the open. And there is no guarantee that Bush will lose.

Professor Turley also lamented: “We have a two-party system, which isn’t enough. They have a monopoly on power. We have one party running on: ‘We’re the lesser of two evils.’ No other ideas beyond that. And, the Republicans are running on: ‘Vote for me, or die!’ And, it isn’t just the Republicans…

The Democrats have the same flaws. Hillary Clinton [U.S. Senator, NY-Democrat], voted for the Patriot Act and for most of this [anti-civil libertarian] stuff. She has only rediscovered civil liberties when it became popular to do so, as did the rest of them.” […]

Finally, Professor Turley summed up his insightful and compelling presentation by saying:

“The Republic has within it the seeds of its own destruction…If [the people] look the other way, do nothing, then we will be redefined. We will no longer be the people we were…One of my biggest fears is that my generation will give away the legacy that we got from the generation that came before us. And that we will untether our civil liberties from the system that was created in the brilliance of the 18th century…

We have to stop being a country of chumps…We need another political party. We’re certainly choosing between the lesser of two evils, and as the saying goes–’You are guaranteed evil!’”

If I land on good editorials or commentary will post it… Things are very very bad, but best to know what we are dealing with. And now even fools and knaves should step aside.

soccerdad at The Left Coaster has a good one. And he links to the torture film that Neiwert has up. I did not watch it… cannot bear to. I remember when the first reports came thru of two deaths at Bagram. And that the Army ME had certified “homicide”.

And here we are. Years later. From soccerdad:

[H]e then accuses the Dems of being spineless. I think this is where he and others go wrong. They are not spineless, they just agree with the Repubs. I think the Dems would have preferred that Iraq not be invaded, but given that it has they are behind it. Their only complaint appears to be that it’s not being run well.

The Democrats time and time again have been handed clubs by the Repubs (torture being the largest) and instead of beating them over the head with them they just yawn and do nothing. The bottom line is that they are for the war and don’t want to do anything to interfere with its progress. One only has to listen to H. Clinton or read the New Republic to see that this is true. The leadership of both parties support the right of the US to do anything it wants, to anyone it chooses, and should not incur any consequences. American Exceptionalism run way amok.

A real feeling of helplessness has settled in as there seems to be little anywhere someone who is against these wars of conquest can turn. The truth of the matter is that neither party cares. They would be happy if only 3 people in the entire country voted as long as their party got 2 of the votes.

Now its time to sit back and watch the war on Iran unfold just as scheduled with the US employing tactical nukes. The US and the world is changing and it certainly is not for the better. My children and their children will bear the brunt of the nasty consequences that are sure to come.

The time for dissent will be limited.

I particularly remember that Jan Shakowsky who has been forcefully against the war in Iraq, was right there with all the other Democrats in denouncing al Maliki’s comments. And certainly the display over Chavez… you nearly have to laugh. A “teaching moment” for any Democratic voters who know anything at all about the history of the USA and So and C America.

Truly, we have a bi partisan dictatorship. I think the Dems hang around for what falls off the table…

Article precis from Wikipedia:“The Enabling Act (Ermächtigungsgesetz in German) was passed by Germany’s parliament (the Reichstag) on March 23, 1933. It was the second major step after the Reichstag Fire Decree through which the Nazis obtained dictatorial powers using largely legal means. The Act enabled Chancellor Adolf Hitler and his cabinet to enact laws without the participation of the Reichstag.

The formal name of the Enabling Act was Gesetz zur Behebung der Not von Volk und Reich (”Law to Remedy the Distress of the People and the Reich”).”

Near history from Madman, CJR timeline forward from Carlotta Gall, the NYT correspondent in Afghanistan who determined that two had died in custody at Bagram air base and the military ME certified “homicide”.

[G]all’s story, it turns out, had been at the center of an editorial fight. Her piece was “the real deal. It referred to a homicide. Detainees had been killed in custody. I mean, you can’t get much clearer than that,” remembers Roger Cohen, then the Times’s foreign editor. “I pitched it, I don’t know, four times at page-one meetings, with increasing urgency and frustration. I laid awake at night over this story. And I don’t fully understand to this day what happened. It was a really scarring thing. My single greatest frustration as foreign editor was my inability to get that story on page one.”

Doug Frantz, then the Times’s investigative editor and now the managing editor of the Los Angeles Times, says Howell Raines, then the Times’s top editor, and his underlings “insisted that it was improbable; it was just hard to get their mind around. They told Roger to send Carlotta out for more reporting, which she did. Then Roger came back and pitched the story repeatedly. It’s very unusual for an editor to continue to push a story after the powers that be make it clear they’re not interested. Roger, to his credit, pushed.” (Howell Raines declined requests for comment.)

“Compare Judy Miller’s WMD stories to Carlotta’s story,” says Frantz. “On a scale of one to ten, Carlotta’s story was nailed down to ten. And if it had run on the front page, it would have sent a strong signal not just to the Bush administration but to other news organizations.” [snip]

[R]obin Goldfaden, one of Kidd’s attorneys at the American Civil Liberties Union, said the case “could be the launching point for more fully documenting how the government is misusing the material witness statute.”

The law was intended to give authorities the power to detain witnesses they feared might flee before testifying. But after the Sept. 11 attacks, the government used it to hold 70 men, nearly half of whom were never called to testify in court, according to a study by the ACLU and Human Rights Watch.

Kidd — a Kansas native who was known as Lavoni T. Kidd before converting to Islam — was arrested in March 2003 as he prepared to board a flight to Saudi Arabia, where he was planning to pursue a doctorate in Islamic studies. Federal prosecutors claimed he was a flight risk crucial to the prosecution of a fellow University of Idaho student, Sami Omar al-Hussayen.

Kidd was imprisoned for 16 days in three states and then placed under restrictive court supervision for more than a year.

But Kidd was never called to testify against Hussayen, who was eventually acquitted of computer-related terrorism charges. [snip]

… an overview of the The State of Exception… It starts in 1791 in France and traverses several countries. [from Arcturus]

The place—both logical and pragmatic—of a theory of the state of exception in the American constitution is in the dialectic between the powers of the president and those of Congress. This dialectic has taken shape historically (and in an exemplary way already beginning with the Civil War) as a conflict over supreme authority in an emergency situation; or, in Schmittian terms (and this is surely significant in a country considered to be the cradle of democracy), as a conflict over sovereign decision.

The textual basis of the conflict lies first of all in Article 1 of the constitution, which establishes that “the Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it” but does not specify which authority has the jurisdiction to decide on the suspension (even though prevailing opinion and the context of the passage itself lead one to assume that the clause is directed at Congress and not the president).

The second point of conflict lies in the relation between another passage of Article 1 (which declares that the power to declare war and to raise and support the army and navy rests with Congress) and Article 2, which states that “the President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States.”

Fein was good on Lehrer yesterday … will see if the transcript is up…

The tired Democrats are on Cspan. Levin, Reed, Reid (speaking now), Schumer, Durbin. They should have walked out months ago. [C-Span moving to open phone lines as the senate votes on the Detainee bill]

last… I am so unimpressed by the months long burbles from the Generals … I have no faith that the military would do other than stand with the president in a crisis. And stand resolutely against the American people. To me that is what NOLA and the whole of the Gulf Coast under Katrina/Rita was all about. Test it out. The military did as ordered as did ICE and other entities. Further, we had Mexican Marines who came across the border and were active on the Gulf Coast in Mississippi. LAT reported it and had photos. I read it was the first time since 1848 we allowed foreign military to operate on US soil.

ooo ugh. Steny. And gathering the “progressives” (including Waters and Lewis) to his bosom. Honestly, I’d rather Murtha:

Liberal House Democrats are not lining up behind Rep. Jack Murtha’s (D-Pa.) leadership candidacy in the numbers he had hoped despite his outspoken stance against the Iraq war.

Murtha’s failure to line up staunch opponents of the war could prove a blow to his hope of denying the majority leadership to Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (Md.) in the event of a Democratic takeover of the House in the 110th Congress.

Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), a friend of Murtha who has been helping him with the race, said tepid support among some progressives was a worry to him. “It does concern you when people you think are going to be with you turn out not to be. Some of that’s cultural issues, guns and abortion,” he said. “But we still have the votes.” [snip]

Artur Davis, of whom Black Commentator is downright withering, is on board as well. They are same wing of the party: Biz Wing. I don’t think all the wheezy prattles about abortion and guns is at issue. At all.

I caught Murtha on C-span with some vets who are running for Congress. What a different feel than the way Kos shoved them out and slobbered over them. Very different. They were low key, salt of the earth men (and yes, all men, all white). More than one, when asked by the press, dispensed harshly with how Kerry lost control of the SBVfT assault. Of course, Kos drifting over the line of what America is (was?) all about with his “only the military should criticise the military” and comments that those who serve are better than the rest of us was beyond offensive… Hello? fella?

So Hoyer it is to be I suppose (tho the article does leave it hanging). Watch for Blahgs to trumpet and pummel naysayers. With one or two acting as the foil. It got old sometime ago.

But our bedrock matters less and less – so why do I care that Kos is very confused about civilian leadership of the military.

[I]n another change, a clause said that evidence obtained outside the United States could be admitted in court even if it had been gathered without a search warrant. But the bill now drops the words “outside the United States,” which means prosecutors can ignore American legal standards on warrants.

The bill also expands the definition of an unlawful enemy combatant to cover anyone who has “has purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States.” Quick, define “purposefully and materially.” One person has already been charged with aiding terrorists because he sold a satellite TV package that includes the Hezbollah network.

The bill simply removes a suspect’s right to challenge his detention in court. This is a rule of law that goes back to the Magna Carta in 1215. That pretty much leaves the barn door open.

As Vladimir Bukovsky, the Soviet dissident, wrote, an intelligence service free to torture soon “degenerates into a playground for sadists.” But not unbridled sadism—you will be relieved that the compromise took out the words permitting interrogation involving “severe pain” and substituted “serious pain,” which is defined as “bodily injury that involves extreme physical pain.” [snip]

[T]here are only nineteen billionaire manufacturers on the list, but there are twenty-five from the finance category. And how many billionaires in agriculture? There are seven, six of whom inherited their money. Forbes also has a category for food billionaires. There are twenty-five of them making or inheriting money from fast food (Chick-fil-A), candy, soft drinks, chewing gum and Campbell’s soup. All of that tells you something about America. The fact that there are sixteen health business billionaires, including the Frist family, tells you something else about America and the high cost of health insurance.

Some states are too poor, too dull, too much on the decline to harbor a billionaire. You won’t find one in New Mexico or North Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi. What about the states with one or two billionaires? Try Idaho, where the Simplot Family, with $3.2 billion in their sporran, rules. Do they practice droit du seigneur there? On the other hand, there are eighty-nine billionaires in California, enough perchance that they might have a falling out and, once divided, give the impecunious masses a chance to make their will known. However, even at the risk of sounding a trifle Marxist, there is such a thing as class solidarity, and if there ever were a class that had reason to band together and stick it to the rest of us, it is the billionaire class and its lesser millionaire allies. [snip]

I do believe that v Hoffman is quietly saying they have taken over. Or taken the nation back from the brief (and wonderful) flutters of the Warren Court and some trails of populism, equality, real movement politics and efforts at small ”d” democracy… And indeed they have. With displays of largesse carried for days across all the network channels and cables. Bow down.

Thanks, my knees will take a pass. As will my mind.

performing pastel-colored poodle,
in a clown and poodle show
[OCRegister]

A good time to slap Bill (it’s a metaphor!). Well he is a bore. But he is also Front and Center. Still.

[A[t one point, speaking about the Clinton Foundation, created to tackle climate change, Aids and other global issues, he declared: “I found there was life after politics.”

All eyes immediately swivelled across the platform to examine Tony Blair’s expression for any sign of recognition or enthusiasm.

Perhaps this is what he has in mind when he finally closes the door of No 10. A Blair Foundation, perhaps even a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Clinton Foundation.

The world, not just Great Britain, would be his project.

As Mr Clinton kept suggesting, some things are just too big for national governments alone. What is needed is international partnership and non-governmental organisations working together. [snip]

All a congealing wuss ball. And Tony met extensively with hard core Repubs (from Arnold to George Shultz) when he was out here in California. Everybody knew he was interviewing for “life after”.

What fictions the parties have been. All along. A breath here or there, a moment. So many have truly died for freedom in this country. I think almost every day of the assassinations, not just the best known, but the many, thru out the Sixties. Of Kent State and the killings a little later at Jackson.

BILL CLINTON drew huge cheers from the Labour Party yesterday. The day before, Tony Blair, lecturing on the dangers of recoiling from the US, did not mention President Bush.

It is a delusion to pretend that Bush is a one-off villain, an aberration, from the country that so recently produced Clinton. In two years, the dream goes, he will be gone and we shall all be free to love America again.

That is a misunderstanding of the forces that produced Bush — and Clinton. True, Bush’s excessive decisiveness has produced a chaotic presidency. But his rise still says something important about the direction of US politics. To disregard that would be a recipe for perpetual disillusionment with his successors, Republican or Democrat, and for disappointment in America, which would be unjustified and destructive.

And this is just so cheering<sarcasm dripping from her mouth>. I don’t have the links at hand, but ran into some soft slobber at MyDD yesterday about K Street come courtin’ some Democrats. It was presented as soft happy slurp at the Blahg. Except I had read the article in The Hill. It was the reverse. Dems looking for campaign funding and shoveling out the promises…. (will hunt up both pieces).

I saw this roll up on the RSS feed from the Guardian‘s News Blog: ”Big Dog’s Penis”. I HAD to check. Just a snip so if you do go read –there are photos as well… does not go well with lunch, tho maybe i am just queasy early in the day.. But it is representative of ‘cutting to the chase’ – and suits our militaristic future…

For those who want more US-UK political hook ups, Matthew Engel’s sketch from the Labour conference for the Financial Times ponders that Mr Clinton would make an excellent successor to Tony Blair if there were a loophole that could get him into parliament. He has one clear advantage, Engel suggests:

With prime minister Clinton, Labour could be quite certain he would restore the cool, arm’s length relationship with the White House that the party craves – especially if Hillary does become president.

We critics of John Bolton’s recklessly ineffective diplomacy have always known that his defeat in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee would likely be a symbolic victory. But now it appears that this administration could use its enlarged sense of presidential power to pay the salary of a man to represent the United States whom our Senate has failed to consent to twice.

And… she has some snips from a UK MoD document:

A British Ministry of Defense document obtained by the BBC reflects some of the grim analysis of recent US intelligence community reporting on Iraq and the global war on terror. Among the documents findings:

The Al Qaeda ideology has taken root within the Muslim world and Muslim populations within western countries. Iraq has served to radicalise an already disillusioned youth and Al Qaeda has given them the will, intent, purpose and ideology to act.

British Armed Forces are effectively held hostage in Iraq – following the failure of the deal being attempted by COS (Chief of Staff) to extricate UK Armed Forces from Iraq on the basis of ‘doing Afghanistan’ – and we are now fighting (and arguably losing or potentially losing) on two fronts.

The West will not be able to find peaceful exit strategies from Iraq and Afghanistan – creating greater animosity…and a return to violence and radicalisation on their leaving. The enemy it has identified (terrorism) is the wrong target. As an idea it cannot be defeated.

Gah. I just read some halting gibberish from one of the Dem hopefuls for 08 – think it ws Warner, over Iraq … hesitant slobber about “finding a way out of Iraq”.

Shit honey. Assemble facing North, South and West to Jordan, at the roads that go in those directions – while they are still navigable – and beat for the border like bats outta hell.

We are drowning. And politicians just shuffle their feet, shift their eyes and mumble. Don’t go war if your best move, your most practised stance is a long, deadly stumble.

What is left to say? I have managed to miss the Couric splash on CBS. I caught a few minutes of the first two shows. Under-under-whelmed.

Basically the money is just too big today. IIRC her contract is for 50 million. Or 150 million. And, there are no constraints on the excesses of media… Well, no, there are some. I saw the PBS program Monday night on Marie Antoinette. It was so-so. We do seem to be in our own era of 3 ft high wigs, utter ignorance of the world beyond the manicured gardens and the Petits Trianons. I think often ofFitzgerald’sDiamond as Big as the Ritz.

However, PBS and the government did censor the depiction of 215 year old political cartoons, due to graphic sexual nature.

WHAT WOULD MURROW THINK? Are they trying to make Edward R. Murrow rise from the earth and bite off their faces? The Couric Experiment at CBS is a transparent nightly disaster, but Katie’s interview with Condoleeza Rice on 60 Minutes last night makes her newscast look like See It Now.

And just when you thought there were no depths of sycophancy and general fluffitude to which she could not dive, Couric suits up, climbs into the bathysphere, and descends into the realm of sightless fish on her new blog. They should just leave this stuff off the Internets and let Katie scrawl it on the cover of her History notebook during study hall.

–Charles P. Pierce

What is good for one side of the pond is fine fine fine for the other. We are so trans-Atlantique, so global! I swear, this makes the old time charity balls in NY look trim and ship shape. And to think, Bill still had time for the little people. The Harlem 20… and they bought bought bought that he reads blogs. ROTF, but not laughing… And then several of them wrote wrote wrote about the CGI effluvia. Dog whistles, by the gross, cheap. Next to the Bible.

That CGI slobber did peak for me when I caught a panel moderated by Brokaw with some Wal-Mart persona, Rupert (FOB, Friend of Billary) and another global thief … the panel was on poverty.

Someone find a god, we need help. Or, find a Spartacus. We need a rallying point of sanity and resistance. I’ve long said the Black Power Salute at the Olympic Games was a sad (and yet still wonderful) moment. We saw something passing.

We are literally drowning in global feudalism. And then, led by our political leaders, we celebrate our masters. Worse, we call them “good”.

I think the difference now is that we drive to the plantation (throw light rail and a transportation infrastructure on the pyre with nationalised health care) and they let us buy appurtenances for the hovel. On which we are allowed a mortgage. It all feels more than shakey. And no one “scary smart” is on view. Plenty of scary, tho.

On Tuesday, the Dow industrials closed at its highest level of the year, as investors reacted to a consumer confidence survey that appeared to show an economy not floundering as some had feared, but not growing too much to spur inflationary pressure. The Dow climbed 93 points, the S&P 500 rose by nearly 10 points and the Nasdaq Composite rose 12.3 points

This November, will the public demand more from Congress, the first branch of government and the linchpin of American democracy?

Boy. I have no idea. Never could see a majority, no way no how… I don’t necessarily see a lot on offer to bring out the Independent voter. Some of the Dem base has to be peeling away. Few issues are being delineated, the leadership say little to rally the troops.

I caught Curran of The Roll Call on C-Span the other morning – the only big GOTV operation is Ickes’ the September Group. I suppose MoveOn will do some, DFA will do some. But ACT and others working the ’04 election disbanded. I remembered that after ’04 Andy Stern of SEIU said they would never work the elections again in the same way. They wanted to concentrate efforts to build union membership. It was their assessment that the 75K margin in OR for Kerry could be traced back to union households.

hmmm. Possibly a good chance that ’04 will be seen as a watershed.

I smell some panic in this. It sure gets old. Seems Delaware Dem did not deliver with his knock out thug punches. Maybe he does not finger his rosary beads enough.

If you cannot rally the troops with ideas and vision, brow beat them. They moved machine politics online. I used to think it was just very, very bad news… I am beginning to think it has done actual damage. It certainly has been degrading, and is itself degraded.

Kos shoves and pushes, but he really does not say anything. More vicious rhetoric.

The Port of Oakland asked for $6 million this year to help guard against terrorist attacks, but Monday the federal Department of Homeland Security said the nation’s fourth-largest container port will get nothing.

While the Bay Area’s various transit agencies received $11.2 million from a $400 million transportation grant program, the ports of San Francisco and Oakland were left out in the cold.

“We are a little bit puzzled about how the decisions were made,” said Marilyn Sandifur, spokeswoman for the Port of Oakland. “We’re very disappointed.”

The port wanted the money to help pay for four security projects totaling $8 million. The port, which received $2.9 million last year, would have spent the money on a system to better track employees and trucks inside its gates, better detect intruders and make communication improvements, Sandifur said.

San Francisco asked for $1.5 million to buy security cameras and improve lighting and fencing along its nearly eight-mile-long waterfront.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the new round of department grants was given out based only on risk – and should not be viewed as a competition to see which city gets the most money.

“What we’re trying to do is move away from looking at grants as if every year, it’s a horse race, and let’s see who wins each race for each grant,” Chertoff told reporters in Washington. “If you want a horse race, go to Pimlico.”

Department officials said many cities – like Houston and Atlanta – asked for fewer funds this year than what they received in 2005 because they no longer needed as much money for security projects that were completed or already under way.

Might as well laugh and pop open the champagne. What the hell. We knew we were disliked… but a tad ridiculous. W isn’t alone. Schwarzenegger hit the Golden Gate Bridge Authority as soon as he could, after the Recall of 2003 put him in the job. The 9 Bay Area Counties did not vote for him and SF rejected the recall by … close to 80% iirc.

Since 2002, the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles – which represent the busiest seaport in the nation – have been granted $91 million for protection against terrorism, more than any such complex.

The ports are listed by federal officials as the highest-risk along with the Port of Houston and the seaport in New York-New Jersey.

Other California ports didn’t fare as well, with ports in Oakland, San Francisco and Port Hueneme receiving nothing and the Port of San Diego receiving $139,837.

The Port of Seattle received about $7.4 million.

And Newsom made some obligatory shamble of a comment… but for years now, years, we have a Republican appointee at the OES, Office of Emergency Services… an utter and complete fuck up. Deadlines unmet, reports not filed, refuses to meet wtih the Board of Supervisors. The mid-course solution? They put someone in OVER her. I think just to come ot the Board of Supes… And Newsom just wanders around looking vague.

General McCaffrey responded: “More is being asked of them, particularly the National Guard and reserve components, than they signed up to do. And in the near-term, we think it’s going to unravel.”

That “near-term” seemed to be about 72 hours away from McCaffrey’s comments. On Monday, the Army announced that because it is stretched so thin by the occupation of Iraq, it is once again extending the combat tours of thousands of soldiers beyond their promised 12-month tours.

Dahr Jamail publishes, with permission, a couple of emails from the mother of a marine in al Anbar, Ramadi. Just a few snips:

You are the ONLY person in the media who has responded to my emails. The other emails I sent to news organizations questioning why so little news out of Al-Anbar were unanswered.

I believe that it is because the US has lost that region, and is suppressing that news to the American public. My son called me last week from Ramadi and said the war is lost – they are just going thru the motions, again, forced to carry out orders and risk their lives for an unobtainable and unjust goal. […]

The American occupation seems to be only making things that much worse for the average Iraqi. My impression is that Iraq is a country with no hope. No matter what is done, they will never have a stable government, no matter what form it might take. From my son, I’m able to glean the complete CHAOS Ramadi is in. It is hopeless. […]

My son is running missions thru back alleys … and is hauling a machine gun that is destroying his back. He is a slender young man, and the gear he is carrying is affecting his health. He can run for miles, but not with a hundred pounds on him. Already I hear such a hardness in his emails, such low morale, such hopelessness, and he has only just begun this deployment (hopefully his last … his third).

I heard Bill burble about democracy in the ME, parroting Bush. At some point in the famous Fox display. Same interview where he mindlessly lauds the three Republicans – some passing fancy he claims they have with the Constitution – or so he wants us to think. Our Constitution, our Bill of Rights.

Hillary had harsher words this week for Chavez then she has ever had for Bush. Any Bush…

I heard Rajiv Chandrasekaran say on Cspan “we cannot leave” we are “holding the line”. Does he notice all the blood dripping I wonder. He must.

But I also heard, months ago, Shadid of the Wapo say – on some C-Span panel – that he felt pride in the power of his government (he might have said “country”, not certain) when the Saddam statue came down. Honestly, that one did stun me. Sickened me too.

Before the war, I was careful to catch a Friedman appearance on Oprah. I had a feeling that wretch would say something worth my bothering – if only to impress the ladies… And he did, said we’d be in Iraq for ”at least 20 years”. Not a surprise, if one had been applying the German or Korean or Japanese or or or or or model. But it was news to the Oprah crowd. Their mouths sagged open.

Then, last summer, I heard Hackett parse the war as tightly as any pol. Out here in SF to gather money, he said he “saw no evidence of any permanent bases”.

We are far gone. The two reporters are saner than most. And Bill and HIllary think they deserve to reign.

Quagmire is absolutely everywhere. No one, no one in any leadership position is willing to talk to the American people. Not really.

Some wonderful links in comments lately. Arcturus links to posts on Habeas Corpus at his site, Constellations.

Talk about a return to the Middle Ages.

While the Senate openly removes habeas protections for anyone designated an “enemy combatant,” the backdoor assault on the Great Writ that began with the 1996 “Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act” (AEDPA) continues apace, with Arizona’s John Kyl (who aspires to the Senate judiciary chair) again leading the charge. This isn’t likely to be spelled out in the pages of the NY Times.

Members of Congress continue to work behind closed doors to pass legislation designed to eliminate federal review of criminal cases. The provisions, which are opposed by a broad array of organizations and individuals, would effectively repeal the “Great Writ” of habeas corpus, leading to more errors and unfairness in the criminal justice system. The legislation would also undercut the few safeguards that currently exist and likely increase the risk that innocent people will remain in prison, or even be executed.

When Habeas goes, in my small opinion, the nation will be gone. Everything I have read for two years has a low and quiet drum beat (to me) – they want to make US citizenship conditional, something available for review. They moved very easily from arguments about “enemy combatants” (bad enough, we should cling like mad to the Geneva Conventions) to now reducing basic rights of citizenship, drawing at the same well. Fewer rights for everyone. And, frankly, everyone guilty. That is my uneducated reading of where we are headed.

From the Habeas Protection link above:

Now, the DOD Authorization bill — the purpose of which is to provide resources for forces in Afghanistan and Iraq — is being weighed down and slowed by controversial and wrong-headed crime legislation that has otherwise been unable to garner majority support in both houses of Congress. Members of both parties who have fought on principle to resist these regressive changes to habeas should continue to do so and not be made to appear anti-patriotic when they rightfully object to this unnecessarily bloated DOD bill.

Regular order — which assures that both Chambers of Congress have a fair opportunity to consider the legislation — has been skirted; indeed, the texts of some of the added measures has not been seen by many members and their staff nor by the public — there is only one proper course of action — remove the non-germane matters from the bill.

( New York ) On Monday, September 18, President Evo Morales Ayma and Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca of Bolivia met with Native American leaders on the Bolivian President’s first day in New York City . The President, Foreign Minister and his delegation were in New York for the opening of the General Assembly.

The meeting was organized at the request of the President and facilitated by the American Indian Law Alliance, a New York City Indigenous non-governmental organization, along with the Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the UN. Tonya Gonnella Frichner (Onondaga), President of the American Indian Law Alliance, moderated the meeting. She opened the discussion with a brief history on some Native nations’ historical and modern relationships with the American government and the struggle of North American Native peoples. [snip]

[H]ere at the end of this latest cycle of time, on the cusp of great change and dangerous upheaval, what lessons can we find from this meeting, and from the growing movements calling for change, for more opportunities for the poor, the oppressed and the suffering around the world?

Well, first lets throw away any of the “noble savage” tropes that are all-too-often slathered over the top of meetings like these, declarations like these. Indigenous people are only people, after all, subject to the same jealousies and corruptions as anybody else. Instead, lets look at the ideas that form the mythical basis for so many so-called “pagan” or “primitive” cultures, ideas that are being carried forward by leaders like those above. What so many of these cultures hold to be true, hold in common, is the idea of CONNECTEDNESS. The Lakota phrase for this belief is Mitakuye Oyasin, “for all my relations” or “we are all related”. [snip]

In the late 1980s, I was the first western journalist allowed into the world’s most dreaded prison, Moscow’s sinister Lubyanka. […]

I still shudder recalling Lubyanka’s underground cells, grim interrogation rooms, and execution cellars where tens of thousands were tortured and shot. […]

Prisoners taken in the dead of night to Lubyanka were systematically beaten for days with rubber hoses and clubs. There were special cold rooms where prisoners could be frozen to near death. Sleep deprivation was a favourite and most effective Cheka technique. So was near-drowning in water fouled with urine and feces.

I recall these past horrors because of what this column has long called the gradual “Sovietization” of the United States. This shameful week, it became clear Canada is also afflicted.

We have seen America’s president and vice president, sworn to uphold the Constitution, advocating some of the same interrogation techniques the KGB used at the Lubyanka. They apparently believe beating, freezing, sleep deprivation and near-drowning are necessary to prevent terrorist attacks. So did Stalin.

The White House insisted that anyone — including Americans — could be kidnapped and tried in camera using “evidence” obtained by torturing other suspects. Bush & Co. deny the U.S. uses torture but reject the basic law of habeaus corpus and U.S. laws against the evil practice.

The UN says Bush’s plans violate international law and the Geneva Conventions.

This week’s tentative agreement between Bush and Congress may somewhat limit torture, but exempts U.S. officials from having to observe the Geneva Convention.

I happened to see this at News Dissector, it may be old news but it had slipped by me:

“Big Brother is not only watching you – now he’s barking orders too. Britain’s first ‘talking’ CCTV cameras have arrived, publicly berating bad behaviour and shaming offenders into acting more responsibly.”

www.rinf.com … they probably travel with a handy set of thumb screws to increase the public shaming.

Lovely.

And this, from Tuston, fits right in. It has always felt to me they are walling us in (as well):

Given the Homeland Security Department’s history of waste and spiraling costs in past procurements, Congress plans to keep a close watch as the department brings the private sector in to help secure 7,500 miles of the nation’s borders.

Larry Halloran, deputy staff director for the House Government Reform Committee, said Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., is concerned about the vagueness of the Secure Border Initiative solicitation and doubts the department’s ability to handle the $2 billion procurement.

“When you have a complex procurement under way to integrate fences, sensors, UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles], and other technology, it takes a procurement capacity we haven’t seen yet,” Halloran said.

Mucho bucks to be made. I watched some of the hearings two weeks ago of the House Government Reform Sub Committe, issues of Iraq were on the table that day.

Jokers. Pity the money isn’t funny. I wish Americans could grow up and realise our nationalised health care, the one we will never, never, ever get, is riding in warships and missiles and F-16s, 18s, 22s and so on, literally around the world.

I can no longer call Laredo home, it is not my town, not a town that now resembles one metropolitan detention center. Sad thing is, I don’t think the people there realize they are voluntarily allowing themselves to be detained. When SBI fully takes effect and the walls that will kill off the border towns, it will be at that time they will realize they are the detainees.

Some critics point to a jarring mismatch between Bush’s rhetoric and the scant attention paid to Afghanistan. Jim Dobbins, Bush’s former special envoy to Kabul – he also led the Clinton administration’s rebuilding efforts in Bosnia, Kosovo, Haiti and Somalia – calls Afghanistan the “most under-resourced nation-building effort in history.” Former Bush reconstruction coordinator Carlos Pascual, who retired in December 2005, does not dispute this assessment. He says the State Department has “maybe 20 to 30 percent” of the people it needs. Even Republican Sen. Richard Lugar, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, fretted last week that for five years the administration and Congress have failed to create a powerful nation-building czar, despite their enthusiasm for regime change. “We have a long way to go,” he said.

So. Ya think the Dems could make some of that stick? 2002… 2004… another chance heading over the hill… soon to ride into the sunset of history…

Will they try? Because this, no fucking question, is W’s own mess.

I am very unclear that Bill’s display on FOX did all that much. Got him some face time, finger pointing, bluster, ink, etc., w/r/t a big gnawing issue… Or, let’s be frank, did re-election (however you get there in this political climate, is how you get there) make it all moot – and old? … in the calcified mind of the public, I mean.

I did see it in full over the week end… and caught the patch, repair, knit and sew roundtable with Wallace, Hume, Liasson and Juan WIlliams. Enh.

So what is Bill doing so damned cosy with Rupert? All questions are fair. Love and war.

BLITZER: So you the asked the president in the Oval Office — and the vice president — why didn’t you go after the Taliban in those eight months before 9/11 after he was president. What did he say?

BEN-VENISTE: Well, now that it was established that al Qaeda was responsible for the Cole bombing and the president was briefed in January of 2001, soon after he took office, by George Tenet, head of the CIA, telling him of the finding that al Qaeda was responsible, and I said, “Well, why wouldn’t you go after the Taliban in order to get them to kick bin Laden out of Afghanistan?”

Maybe, just maybe, who knows — we don’t know the answer to that question — but maybe that could have affected the 9/11 plot.

BLITZER: What did he say?

BEN-VENISTE: He said that no one had told him that we had made that threat. And I found that very discouraging and surprising.

Honestly the “rally the troops” spin from Jay Carson (who was at Bill’s right hand for Soul Food Harlem, Day Trippers Meet the Man) has a whiff. It is a snip included in a later CNN replaying of the Ben-Veniste, not a transcript up yet…

So now they will wake up and fight? I still believe the collective Democratic strangle (did we triangulate to death?) comes from the top.

In a pair of speeches on Tuesday, Democrat Phil Angelides plans to say that on his first day as governor he would call for all California National Guardsmen to return to the Golden State.If implemented, the Angelides proposal would almost certainly provoke a legal challenge. [snip]

This works for me. However, there is little real indication that national Dems – and locals too – really support Angelides. So, my guess is this is too challenging for the noodle-kneed Democrats.

I think it is a great ploy tho. And should be pushed, hard. IIRC California has lost the most in Iraq of any state. And at least in my area, the local press and TV news have covered issues for the NG in Iraq from the very beginning. Families were breaking up, homes being lost, small business shut and so on from the very first year of the war.

Just heard on the news that in the latest round of HLS monies:

Port of San Francisco, 0. Port of Oakland, 0. Port of Stockton, 0. Only Port of Richmond got anything. A very palty 1 million. Maybe we should just apply directly to the Chinese.

And a clip of George Clooney on a stage with Arnold. Cute. Both of them telling us that ”some things transcend party”. They are pushing Darfur. Ah yes. Death and destruction far far away. Just as PR advisors told Bill Gates, focus the foundation outside America. Don’t get caught criticising America.

[F]inally president, the indigenous peoples, the poor come especially from a culture of life and not a culture of war, and this millennium will really have to be to defend live, to save humanity and if we want to save humanity we have the obligation to save the planet. The indigenous peoples live in harmony with mother earth, and not only in reciprocity, in solidarity, with human beings.

We feel greatly that the politics of hegemonist competitions are destroying the planet. I feel that all countries, social forces, international organisms are important, let us begin to debate truthfully, in order to save the planet, to save humanity.

This new millennium, the millennium that we find ourselves in needs to be a millennium of life, not of war, a millennium of people and not of empire, a millennium of justice and equality and that any economic policy needs to be orientated towards ending, of at least lessening these so-called asymmetric differences between one country and another country, those social inequalities.

We are not trying to implement policies that allow the economic humiliation or economic looting; when they cannot loot according to the norms, they use troops.

I want to ask with great respect, that it is important to withdraw troops from Iraq if we want to respect human rights, it is important to withdraw economic policies that allow the concentration of capital in only a few hands.

And for this, I feel president, that these events should be historical in order to change the world and to change economic models, interventionalist policies. Above all else we want them to be times that allow us to defend and save humanity

Other than that… Bloomberg says economy is fading as an election issue for the Dems. Cannot be all true (and who are they dialing to get these answers?)… but my!! those gas prices are speeding downward. The article is peppered with poll numbers run 9/16 – 19.

Luckily the Dems can run against Chavez. Or Ahmadinedjad.

That should work. And Bill can still be Bar and Poppy Bush’s 5th son. Dorr’s extra brother. I know i am repetitious but the glued together aspect of the Bushes and the Clintons drives me bats.

On the other hand, California could be a leading indicator. During the week I caught sight of the percentages that real estate is falling in the Bay Area counties. Stunning. Double digits everywhere.

The anti-war group Code Pink marches from both ends of the Golden Gate Bridge Thursday morning in protest against the war in Iraq, fouling the morning commute. At right, Kat McNulty, one of about 100 peaceful demonstrators, flashes a peace sign to passers-by.

I have no idea how they “fouled” the commute. Not from the films I saw of the march. They did have “No War” signs, smallish ones, pinned to themselves, and those were removed by troupers. I suppose fear drivers would be reading. And phoning. And multitasking inside the car. And whatever else…

He entered a hotel conference room on the East Side with a jaunty smile, a wave and an air of supreme confidence.

“Mr Ahmadinejad […] squared off with the nation’s foreign policy establishment, parrying questions for an hour and three-quarters with two dozen members of the Council on Foreign Relations then ending the evening by asking whether they were simply shills for the Bush administration.”

That last made me smile.

hmmm At first I thought I did not have much to add to this (colonising is quite insidious, shall we say)… but when I reached this snippet on Desmond Tutu and more importantly religion…

The Archbishop Desmond Tutu radiates more sweet, selfless joy than his little body could possibly contain. No religion in the world promotes death and murder, he said. Instead, all of the world’s religions promote compassion, justice, love, caring. It is unfortunate that people misuse religion for bad purposes, like a knife intended to cut bread might be used to hurt someone.

Gotta love the Clinton Global Initiative squatting on Manhattan for a few days…. A PR structure provides a forum for our puppets to lecture us. Rania – and King Abdullah of Jordan, an ”operetta of a regime” [a quick tumbnail from poor old Hitchens, but he is right on that one] that does not want to be “on the menu”, so to speak. Karzai, from a Conoco executive to Pashtun leader in a few leaps. Necessary deals with war lords, a shakey protector of Kabul and beyond that, Taliban retaking by the day and a failed narco-state (all but) that was reported as such far and wide last year following a UN report, but those reports were outside the continental USA. Once called Fortress America. Now it is just in an ignorance bubble. And a celebrity bubble.

Rupert Murdoch, the conservative global media mogul whose Fox News Channel and New York Post have criticized the Clintons in the past, participated in a panel at the conference Friday. He appeared onstage with Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott, who won wide praise for Wal-Mart’s announcement earlier this week that it would begin selling dozens of generic drugs for $4 (€3.10).

As part of the Clinton conference, Wal-Mart announced a five-year plan to reduce product packaging by 2013.

Wal-Mart has faced criticism in recent years for its low wages and lack of affordable health insurance for its employees. Earlier this year, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton returned a $5,000 (€3,901) contribution from Wal-Mart.

Friday morning, Sen. Clinton, a potential 2008 presidential contender, headlined a panel on women’s economic empowerment. She decried what she described as the global “feminization of poverty.”

Later, President Clinton announced that Murdoch had partnered with singer and liberal activist Barbra Streisand to give seed funding to the Clinton Climate Initiative.

“Rupert’s richer than I am. He should give more,” quipped Streisand when she took the stage with Clinton.

Lordy.

So should we applaud? — or just vote for the former Wal-Mart Bd of Directors member ’86 – ’92, this tidy critical detail went nearly unreported inside the US in the ’92 run. I read about it in the continental and UK press. Nor is it mentioned in her blurb at the CGI website.

And all this schmooz about removing the word Terror and inserting Extremism… well, if we buy into that watery pabulum then we had best shoot ourselves. Pronto.

As I posted earlier, I’m spending the next three days at the Clinton Global Initiative. A few of my favorite bloggers, including Jessica, Barbara and Peter, are all here also. The opening plenary session, which featured President Clinton, First Lady Laura Bush, and a panel discussion, just ended. The pre-session video featured several of the event’s coordinators and contributors, including Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan, who said, “Extremism only exists where there is ignorance, where there is isolation, where there is deprivation. So it is crucial to educate our youth… and give them hope for the future.” Gayle Smith from the Center of American Progress followed with, “It is time to stop talking about why we can’t do things and go ahead and just do it.”

Prepare for a long two years (run up to ’08) as those colonised channel the messages. Yes, I am sorry to be blunt.

It will take several years, but all of this soft as runny eggs foundation-based work that is to come from immense monies (oh and “pledges” which are notoriously welched upon, after the PR of the promise is passed…) safely behind the legally constructed wall of the various foundations, will come in for an investigation. To the extent that it can be done.

On the other hand, the “little people” are encouraged to believe that a return to what is 19th c white philanthropy will take care of things. And if that belief were to be punctured?

Generally in foundations, other than true philanthropic monies, often quietly working away… generally foundation money just accumulates. Away from the prying eyes of the government. And, as of a few years ago (I am not current), only had to dispense 5% of its holdings per annum to retain all of the benefits of being a foundation. And of course pay any number of strata of Directors, board members and whoever else.

And, yes, of course Peter Daou was there. And, yes if you click on the CGI link, you will see a bright and cheery photo of Hillary, with a blurb just a click away about how she was elected in 2000 to [blah blah blah] for the people of NY. A “featured” attendee at the conference.

Blah. Blah. I hope the play pumps really do work. We are going to hear about them whether they do or not.

I am sorry, but I just dislike the cheap slobber. The laden with irony soul food consumed in Harlem is coming back up to greet us, as ink. Further, the soft takes were, on a small scale, important. The CGI annual meeting is technically closed to the public, but for media.

Can the public take part?

Attendance is limited to CGI members. However, the entire meeting will be webcast live and can be viewed at www.clintonglobalinitiative.org. For additional suggestions on “what you can do” to get involved, please visit our website.

There seems to be quite a bit of chatter in the Blogoland about the Clinton appearance on FOX with Chris Wallace. In case anyone is interested, this is (I think transcribed from TIVO as usually FOX gives highlights) a “rough” of the full interview at Think Progress.

I am bats on full transcripts. After Kerry selected Edwards, they had several luncheon interviews with editorial boards in the major press. I remember three published the full transcript. NYT, Wapo and I think the Chicago Trib. I can no longer remember the Trib – or the third – precisely, but with both the Times and the Wapo, Kerry and Edwards CONFLATED Iraq with the WoT – and did so immediately at the opening of the interviews.

[B]ush, like previous U.S. presidents, has done nothing to seek the extradition of Pinochet, who perpetrated the terrorist act of September 21, 1976. So, when we remember victims of terrorism, like Letelier and Moffitt, we should also recall the duplicitous nature of Bush’s war on terrorism. He doesn’t really mean it. When he speaks the “t” word, he excludes those who covered their murders with anti-Castro or anti-left rhetoric.

We should also recall that Osama bin Laden and other terrorists of today received CIA backing when they used their murderous impulses against the Soviet Union.

On September 21, 2006, Chilean President Michele Bachelet inaugurated the Orlando Letelier Salon at Chile’s UN headquarters, a good way to preserve historical memory. A bust of Ronni Moffitt and Orlando on Sheridan Circle brings some passersby to ask about how a Chilean general whom the U.S. government had supported in a military coup ordered a terrorist act in Washington. /snip/

Well I guess Musharraf is indicating he is switching columns. VERY reluctant ally – or at least willing to go public with the ”standard issue US threats”…. Although he has shafted us… A Q Khan, likely some assistance to OBL on the Pakistan/tribal region side of the hill after Tora Bora… and so on. And who knows who the ISI really support.

But gotta laugh:

“The intelligence director told me that [Armitage] said, ‘Be prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age’,” President Musharraf said. “I think it was a very rude remark.” The claims come at the end of a week in which relations between the US and Pakistan have sharply deteriorated, and days ahead of the publication of President Musharraf’s memoir, In the Line of Fire, which will be serialised in The Times from Monday.

On Wednesday, President Bush, in an interview with CNN, said that he would not hesitate to authorise immediate American military action inside Pakistan if he had intelligence of Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts. Asked if he would give an order to kill the al-Qaeda leader, Mr Bush said “absolutely”.

President Musharraf was clearly angered by Mr Bush’s declaration that the US would act independently of his authority inside Pakistan.

“We wouldn’t like to allow that. We would like to do that ourselves,” he said. The President’s potentially incendiary claim of US threats comes at a particularly sensitive time between Washington and Islamabad, amid suspicion in Washington that Pakistan is not doing enough to curb a resurgent Taleban in Afghanistan, or in the hunt for bin Laden.

… and a bit of a silly, but still very political in my view, look back (for me) at Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo… what a hoot they are… and it reminds me of the old Cockettes here in San Francisco from the 60 and 70s as well as the ballet troupe and dances of Mark Morris…

And I like the photo… too. ;)

*********************************************************************

UPDATE: 12:30 pm

Not to be missed. [thanks Madman]… you gotta wonder how long Charles will last. A few posts on at TAPPED, someone in a FP posting (forget who) does call him ”shrill” (myself I do a high-styled, very shrill imitation of a crazed Siamese cat when the party fucks up royally – and yes my vocal chords are shredded…).

But of course CP is right. And, natch, Republicans are laughing.

THE SILENT PARTY. You worthless passel of cowards. They’re laughing at you. You know that, right?

The national Democratic Party is no longer worth the cement needed to sink it to the bottom of the sea. For an entire week, it allowed a debate on changing the soul of the country to be conducted intramurally between the Torture Porn and Useful Idiot wings of the Republican Party, the latter best exemplified by John McCain, who keeps fashioning his apparently fathomless ambition into a pair of clown shoes with which he can do the monkey dance across the national stage. They’re laughing at him, too.

And … you know, can be missed. But for form I add it, the Kos FP anti SYFPH which he can do “cuz it is me”, predictable sloberation.

The shorter version: those damned Dems, they shoulda listened to me. However the original article that Arianna draws on, at Roll Call, is blocked to non-subscribers. It sounds like some states (Michigan – Stabenow) under harsh economic times will be arguing both points.

Not that it matters, because Charles Pierce is right. And we’ve all known it.

But when media talked about CT, Lamont, Lieberman and “the war”… oh I do recall Kos suddenly talking about, almost frantically, and TPM backing him up (muck muck) it was all about Social Security.

Whatever. When the day comes, if he does not produce, the party will write him off. Never fails.

Meanwhile, the party leadership is piggy backing Chavez, in a panic – and it ain’t pretty.

Oh. I had thought they were all so close. Like a stack of tiddly winks…

No?

WARNER: The Lamont Primary

Jane Hamsher at firedoglake looks at 9/21’a New York Times article reporting ex-VA Gov Mark Warner “has largely avoided Mr. Lamont, instead lending his name and fund-raising capabilities to races that are genuinely in play and have longer-term strategic value for the Democratic Party, like Representative Harold Ford Jr.‘s bid for the Senate in Tennessee.”

Hamsher comments: “For someone who clearly wants to woo the blogosphere, it seems awfully short-sighted. In case anyone hasn’t noticed, we care quite a bit about this race, pretty much across the board.

All I can say is – if you don’t want to show up now, that’s fine. Don’t come begging with your hat in your hand come 2008.”

There is a real post of political and blogging posts and links Tide Pools.

It will function til I get a new post up… and it may be a while (a few hours, I mean). We are in a heat wave and my lead cat, Baby, who went stone blind the end of May (well, the one eye left went fully blind) is needing a lot of help (back legs are weakening). A little more so than for some weeks… she is still OK, so not time to do anything yet… but it is physically wearing.

Here is the point of this post:

But… I urge transparency… so here goes. Pyrrho is banned. WP does not have a function for banning so what I had to do is set the defaults so the word “pyrrho” will cause a comment to be deleted without e-mail notice to me.

He has been in a kind of limbo moderation loop. Frankly he wore me out and wore me down. And it goes way back to June July August of ’05.

At issue, despite the fact that his persistent private mailing to me over a year ago was repeatedly explained to him as an issue (see comments) he included me in an email in August 06, a bcc list of which I was somehow a part.

I will be kind to Pyrrho and not reveal the content of the email.

He also insists that I dislike him or take issue with him as he will “not condemn Armando”. Again, it is the fixation and what appears to me (these are my perceptions, same as I felt about his actions a year ago) to be a deliberate effort, or at best mindless nattering on, to wear me down.

[And a very well titled LSF article it was, as it turns out] TheDope Leading the Doped (it was a wilfred piece about Lance Armstrong).

It was the attack you initiated at LSF in August of 2005 in the thread linked above, out of the blue one day… you had not posted at LSF in weeks – maybe not since June 2005… which only occured to me later as I wondered what shit you were slinging and for whom… as you are hardly INDEPENDENT.

And that was weeks after, AFTER you were a tiresome dissembler and bombarded me with uninvited emails.

I asked you to stop with the drivel over and over – I dumped emails unread, and finally BLOCKED YOU..

But no you HAD to email with your scheisse about failed co-operatives from decades past and your 1000 year theories.

I wrote to Pyrrho at the email addy he lists at MCat and explained why I was banning him. And I pointed out the issues delineated above and a few others having to do with a list serv (for women posters at Dkos) he participated on post Pie. (Can this get more labyrinthine?).

I made the decision, finally, as he posted this (to moderation loop, it never appeared in comments)… it was the last of about 17 comments in a two day period.

I for one believe you.you have a schema of control you favor as well, no free for alls… so many people want to cap and direct the energy “under their control”… worse for politics than bad policy… the urge to control others and their interactions, there is always a “right” to do it, property being the first of all.

especially when I agree with you, can’t have that. It appears you are part of the kabuki from where I sit, you take care of the general cynicism, make sure there is no connecting your world to theirs, “let the operatives be, and just watch with opera glasses” seems to be your de facto approach.

I tried to link to all of Pyrrho’s [published] comments at MCat, but the only version I could get was thru search in the “edit comments” mode, which is pass word protected. If anyone wants them I will copy and paste to an email. I do link above to the first thread he posted to and the last thread in which published comments appeared. The last thread also shows the “header” information from the email I received as he denied it had happened. Except it (his emails) got so out of hand a year ago, not a big deal… Also he was not the first Front Pagers 3.0 (the Armando, DavidNYC group) or friend of the FPers 2.0 (the DH and DemfCT group) that tried to engage me in some email exchange. Enough.

Or, use this as an open thread. However, “pyrrho” will cause a comment to delete automatically. A failure of the system.

***********************************************************

UPDATE: Friday 4:30 am

I am having trouble making the link to the LSF article work [thanks NYCee]. Even from LSF at the article.

NO the French won’t be forgiving. A couple years ago I caught his lame explanation for the fact he knew barely a word of French, despite living htere. Never did care for Lance… but Good Luck, may the president luv you too. lance has perfected saying nothing… surely he will declare asA Newer Newest New New New Damn you I am too NEw! Democratfairly soon. One with that special gloss that many know he is a “moderate Republican” but travelling lite. In the Massa (NY-29) and Clark mold.I am so sick of it all.Love the sunflower laden meadow… too funny. Go Boys.

marisa, I can no longer understand what you say. what the hell? you say you don’t care about the turn of events, it’s all predicable… you seem to care, it seems to have driven you over the edge.sorry to say, but it’s too bad… we have to be tough on the farther left… it’s centuries of work ahead of us… perhaps your expectations are two high and have turned to pure frustration?sorry because I’m sure this will be thought of as rude, but frankly, I’d rather not just ignore it… I’d rather challenge it because I don’t like losing leftists to what appears to be the despair of defeat and the depression of ineffectuality.besides, Madman told me to be more direct a few months ago. I apologize in advance for not having a better way to put it.

I know.I hate to see despair take over… especially since it’s so well justified, it needs to be withstood.you also don’t ask for feedback from me (part of “anything” I guess)… but you’ve gotten some.your writing is showing great despair, and you say you do not care, it’s all just par for the course.I comment because I think this frame of mind hobbles the real left.For one, it makes alliance impossible because it makes alliance pointless.I reserve my right to address all comments made in public.And I do apologize that I don’t have a better way to put it… but then, only someone you would listen too carefully really has the responsibility to speak with you in a way sensitive to your nature…I’d think you would know I don’t wait for invitations to give my perspective and offer advice. And in fact, neither do you.

Pyrrho. I sincerely doubt you read what I write. In fact I feel sure you don’t… or you would nt be on a tangent like this… You are acting as tho I owe you some preservation of an illusion you maintain. Geesh.Further I am allowed to post thread comments, articles whatever else, as I see fit.
And, big clue:I am not the sole proprietor of the True Left. NO ONE IS…You do not get out and around enough, is my take. Not even around the limited blogosphere. Read widely, read what long time hard core Democrats are saying. A lot of us are saying the same things.READ HART IN THE WAPO…editorial today. This is his third or 4th take on the same issues…. losses htat are coming if Dems don’t get a grip… you see some great gripping action around, other than Feingold?I am not a female Atlas, I do not hold up the world. Nor the left. And I am allowed to have transiting opinions as things change.I won’t be responding again, it is largely useless with people who are high. And upset, for whatever reason. I rather doubt the upsetedness has much to do with me… to be brutal.

fair enough, except that I’m not high. I corrected a mistake “two high” to “too high”, you’ve misunderstood.Since you ask, I see no gripping action (except Feingold… who’s probably doomed but will have my support… unfortunately, as you said an outlet for the left to keep us busy)I see plenty of reason for despair, but I also have not seen any better conditions. I have not known any condition for progressives to have ever existed where despair was not the most realistic position.I’m not faulting that. I am not expecting you to be Atlas… (well maybe a little, I think you have it in you), I’m just comparing your attitude with your attitude of the past as I read it, and as a human that means through my bias. So it’s more than fair for you to say it’s more my eyes than your writing… though I disagree.But write how you will. This is no doubt something I should have kept to myself, but that’s just not my way.But you are mistaken about my illusions, I’m not maintaining any with regards to this. I give the human race poor odds on survival, but I maintain high hopes those odds will come up on the dice anyway. What other way is there to be progressive in a world such as this? But of course I endorse your right to be you, to change, et cetera… and to be brutal as you deem appropriate. Everybody’s right to be themselves doesn’t mean I can’t try to affect them, that’s all, but I won’t belabor the point further.

what a bunch of masterbation and coincidence. I’m surprised to read this and the other Clockwork Orange blog (if there are but two, who knows)… I thought I would check LSF, partially after being maligned as a Bootribber… and was sent here to read stream of consciousness rants which I found quite interesting, followed by these very self satisfied comments. But Maryscott too… hmm, I must have colluded to check today, it could not have been coincidence.But further, my refusal to condemn is of course very illiberal of me… my belief in diplomacy rather than self satisfied isolationism, quite conservative.

How terrible that words do not reflect a deeper hate, how wrong and vile that people should not follow through spoken disagreements with life long public scorn and anger, bitter resentments.

And you should all look at your notice of physical abuse, these things, these things are words… are they actions? Hardly, that’s a problem not of the blogosphere but of people that live only in the blogosphere, for you can write and act, but words, remain words, for communication and so it’s unlikley they are to be, in themselves, a reason to stop communicating, as you demand by implication and by stated standards.

so long as you all have people to feel superior too, you and kos can sleep eaqually as sound and it matters not.

From the Pyrrho reply at MLW:

I struggled to regain the connection that Marisacat and I had, that the others of LSF and I had had.

Pyrrho, there was no such connection. This is a fundamental failure of the nets and most particularly of the slobberation fests and sob feasts and shunning games that pass for [filler at the] political discussion. The Blahhgs..

We posted on a big political discussion site. There was no relationship to reconnect with. The ether the net/blogs/comment sites/personal journal sites roll in on every day, that elusive ether rolls out again each daily cycle.

It is a FUNDAMENTAL failure of the political blogs that they have become Cry for the Day, Cafe internets, Soap operas and Testify for Jesus and confess what ever will gain you attention..

I am not a part of that and NEVER HAVE BEEN. You are. I am not.

So fare well marisacat and marisakittens, all I ask now is that you understand that while obviously I did annoy Marisacat,

I did not send her a bunch of emails after she asked me to stop, and that those two days of emails were nothing more sinister than an attempt to retain a political alliance that was important to me.

THEY WERE NOT EMAILS, I CALLED THEM COMMENTS. That is what they were.

That it was not important in the other direction is really for me to bear, in the manner of all rejections, and not to be held against me, at least not falsely, as if I just recently sent her 17 emails long after we no longer got along. We were getting along on the first of those two days… but that was falling apart at that time. Please don’t make it more extreme simply to feel better about it.

That does not even make sense. He is delusional. there was no getting along.

I LEFT THEM IN MODERATION:they were comments. I did not reply in any way to them. There was no “getting along”..

THERE HAS BEEN NO ”GETTING ALONG” SINCE THE EMAILS OF JUNE JULY 2005 AND THE ATTCK AT LSF IN AUGUST OF ’05.

HE WORE ME OUT. Because of just this sort of thing.

Pyrrho: I said COMMENTS. You posted, tho they did not appear, a multitude of comments over two days – just a few days ago.

A multitude of gibberish comments over the months, a single email IN 06 that I did not want… days worth of emails in June /July of 2005 and an attack out of the blue in a thread at LSF in August 2005.

So.

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Media

from Howl

I'm with you in Rockland
where we wake up electrified out of the coma
by our own souls' airplanes roaring over the
roof they've come to drop angelic bombs the
hospital illuminates itself imaginary walls collapse
O skinny legions run outside O starry
spangled shock of mercy the eternal war is
here O victory forget your underwear we're free
I'm with you in Rockland
in my dreams you walk dripping from a sea-
journey on the highway across America in tears
to the door of my cottage in the Western night

October 7 1955

"a remarkable collection of angelson one stage reading their poetry"
"I think Allen Ginsberg standing up there reading - putting himself on the line - was one of the two bravest things I've ever seen. Remember, it was '55. People had crew cuts, and they looked at you like you were misplaced cannon fodder. The country was being run by Luce publications. It was a dangerous, cold, ugly time, and it was scary. . .
In all our memories no one had been so outspoken in poetry before. We had gone beyond a point of no return. None of us wanted to go back to the grey, chill, militaristic silence, to the intellectual void - to the land without poetry - to the spiritual drabness. We wanted to make it new and we wanted to invent it and the process of it as we went into it. We wanted voice and we wanted vision."
-Michael McClure

Democrats…

Same as goddam fucking forever.
Over and over, in election year after election year, GE and MidTerms both… the Dems start to purr and preen, they stretch luxuriously - at just being TOLD they are going to win [...]
It never fails.
... in February of 2002, looking over the already joyless congressional stragglers willing to be drafted for duty… they barely dreamed, yet, it was even possible (Howard, a different person then, had not arrived to say it could be done)… but one thing was clear, we could not rely on the party to swing it. Could not. You could smell it, they would screw the deal. And I am not talking about Howard and primary issues here. By the end, that was a passing political story. Chuck it on the heap.
[...]
Upshot? The Republicans make it thru. They hold on.